Equal Ground launches Abhimani Queer Film Festival 2022 with ‘Funny Boy’

Equal Ground, together with the Canadian High Commission in Sri Lanka, has announced the launch of the Abhimani Queer Film Festival 2022, with a special screening of Deepa Mehta’s critically acclaimed film ‘Funny Boy’, based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Shyam Selvadurai on 25 February.

Established in 2006, the Abhimani Queer Film Festival is the only film festival in Sri Lanka that focuses on stories related to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Queer/Questioning (LGBTIQ) community. It is also the oldest Queer Film Festival in South Asia. Every year, it showcases both local and international feature and short length movies from around the world. Apart from its entertainment purpose, Abhimani also aims to bring more visibility and representation to stories from the LGBTIQ community. 

This year, the festival will kick off with a screening of Funny Boy, directed by Deepa Mehta and produced by David Hamilton. The movie rights for the United States were acquired by Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY Releasing and the film first premiered on Netflix. 

The film includes a star-studded cast of Sri Lankan actors such as Brandon Ingram, Nimmi Harasgama, Rehan Mudannayake, Shivantha Wijesinha as well as Ali Kazmi, Agam Darshi and Seema Biswas from India. 

Funny Boy brings to life Selvadurai’s masterful writing, in telling the coming-of-age story of Arjie Chelvaratnam, a queer, Tamil boy from Colombo Sri Lanka, who grapples with his sexual orientation, against the backdrop of rising ethnic tensions between the Sinhalese and Tamils in the 1980s. The film follows young Arjie into his teenage years, discovering himself, surrounded by love, hope, and plenty of family drama. 

“We are very proud and hugely privileged to have the Director of Funny Boy Deepa Mehta, here with us for the screening on 25 February 2022. Screening films of this nature at the Abhimani Queer Film Festival gives our Film Festival a homegrown flare that is so important. We want to encourage more film directors, particularly in Sri Lanka, to create more films that depicts queer life in this country accurately and without stereotypical portrayals and storylines. We are very proud of Shyam Selvadurai whose immaculate and heartwarming writing led to this moment, where his first book Funny Boy was picked by Deepa Mehta and brought to the big screens, where it has been hugely successful gathering many accolades and awards,” said Equal Ground Executive Director Rosanna Flamer-Caldera.

The film has been described as “intimate and beautifully rendered” (IndieWire) and “unflinching... and relatable” (The Gate, Canada). It won three awards at the Canadian Screen Awards for Direction, Screenplay and Music, as well as several other awards and nominations. 

Equal Ground is a non-profit organisation seeking economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Questioning/Queer (LGBTIQ) community of Sri Lanka. It is committed to creating a safe space for all LGBTIQ individuals and to providing opportunities for self-help including mental wellbeing, economic, social and political empowerment, access to health, education, housing and legal protection for the LGBTIQ community. Founded in 2004 Equal Ground is also the oldest organisation of this nature functioning in the country.